International Neuroscience Institute

BackgroundAneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) remains a devastating cerebrovascular condition with significant morbidity and mortality. While inflammation plays a critical role in post-hemorrhagic complications, the specific polarization dynamics of monocyte and T cell subpopulations in this context remain poorly understood. This study aims to investigate these immune cell shifts and their correlation with major complications such as angiographic cerebral vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI).MethodsWe conducted a prospective, controlled observational single-center cohort study in a neurovascular university center of maximum care in Germany. A total of 75 patients with aSAH and 20 healthy controls were included. Blood samples were collected on days 1, 4, 7, and 11 post-bleeding. Flow cytometry was used to analyze monocyte (M1, intermediate, M2) and T cell (Th1, Th2, Th17, Treg) polarization patterns. Primary outcomes included the incidence of angiographic cerebral vasospasm, clinical DCI and/or cerebral infarction due to DCI, and clinical outcome assessed at 6 months via the modified Rankin Scale (mRS).ResultsCompared to healthy controls, patients with aSAH exhibited a significant decrease in anti-inflammatory alternatively activated monocytes (6.3% vs. 3.0%; p = 0.04) within 24 h post-bleeding, an increase in pro-inflammatory Th17 T cells (36.3% vs. 6.2%; p < 0.001) and decrease in anti-inflammatory Th2 cells (45.5% vs. 75.2%; p < 0.001). A loss of anti-inflammatory alternatively activated monocytes was observed prior to the onset of angiographic cerebral vasospasm (3.8% vs. 2.7%; p = 0.031) and DCI (4.2% vs. 2.9%; p = 0.006). No significant correlation was found between immune cell subpopulations and long-term clinical outcomes.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates a shift toward pro-inflammatory immune cell subpopulations following aSAH, with significant losses of alternatively activated monocytes preceding major complications such as vasospasm and DCI. These findings suggest that immune subpopulation profiling may hold potential as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in the context of aSAH-related complications. Future studies should aim to clarify whether the observed peripheral immune changes reflect analogous intracerebral immune mechanisms and whether modulating these pathways can improve clinical outcomes.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12974-025-03578-1.

Meningiomas are predominantly benign, more prevalent in women, and related to sex hormones. Malignant transformation during pregnancy, however, is exceptionally rare. We report the case of a 22-year-old woman with a WHO Grade I fibrous meningioma that was completely resected. One year later, during pregnancy following ovulation induction therapy, she developed a recurrence, histologically confirmed as a WHO Grade II atypical meningioma. After delivery, a second recurrence occurred, with progression to WHO Grade III anaplastic meningioma. Immunohistochemistry consistently revealed progesterone receptor (PR) positivity and absence of estrogen receptor (ER) expression. This case represents one of the rare documented instances of malignant transformation of a benign meningioma during pregnancy without prior radiotherapy. It emphasizes the potential influence of pregnancy-related hormonal changes in tumor progression and highlights the importance of close surveillance with multidisciplinary management in reproductive-age women with meningiomas.

BackgroundSpinal cord injury (SCI) initiates secondary inflammatory processes that exacerbate tissue damage, with neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) playing a significant role in amplifying these cascades. This study aimed to explore the temporal dynamics and key regulatory genes of NET formation in SCI to identify therapeutic targets.MethodsWe integrated two transcriptomic datasets from the GEO database to identify differentially expressed NETs-related genes (NRGs) in SCI. WGCNA identified SCI-related modules, while GSVA assessed NET formation dynamics. Publicly available single-cell RNA sequencing data from the GEO database determined cell-specific expression patterns of key NRGs. Findings were validated through immunofluorescence, Western blot, and qPCR in a mouse SCI model. Regulatory networks were constructed, and potential therapeutic compounds were predicted using DSigDB and molecular docking.ResultsWe identified seven key NRGs (Casp1, Ccl3, Fcgr2b, Itgam, Itgb2, Tlr2, Tlr4) in SCI. GSVA revealed peak NET score at day 1 post-injury, with attenuation at days 3 and 7. Single-cell transcriptome analysis demonstrated predominant expression of these key genes in neutrophils during the acute phase, most prominently at 1 day post-injury, which coincides with the most pronounced neutrophil infiltration. Immunofluorescence and Western blot analyses confirmed significantly elevated NET formation at 1 day post-SCI. qPCR verified the expression of all key NRGs. Regulatory network analysis identified CHD1 as an important transcription factor governing NET formation, while miRNA-mRNA network construction revealed sophisticated post-transcriptional regulation mechanisms. Drug prediction analysis identified atorvastatin as a promising therapeutic candidate with strong binding affinity to multiple key NET-related proteins.ConclusionOur study provides insights into the temporal dynamics and molecular mechanisms of NET formation after SCI, identifying potential therapeutic targets to mitigate neutrophil-mediated secondary injury and improve functional outcomes.

Early-life distress is recognized as a potential precursor to neurodevelopmental disorders. One approach to investigating this condition in animal models is post-weaning social isolation. This early-life distress in rodents has been shown to lead to neural changes similar to those observed in patients with schizophrenia, including diminished prefrontal cortex volume, decreased dendritic spine density, and increased dopaminergic activity in the ventral tegmental area. The prepulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm is an established method for assessing sensory gating deficits in both human and animal models. PPI refers to the suppression of the startle reflex to a stronger acoustic stimulus (e.g., 120 dB pulse) when it is preceded by a weaker acoustic pre-stimulus (e.g., 65 dB pulse). This phenomenon is often reduced in psychiatric patients and animal models of psychiatric disorders. This article introduces a protocol to build a behavioral box for PPI studies, enabling the use of an accessible, cost-effective animal model of schizophrenia and the synchronization of the behavioral box with neuronal recordings from the model (e.g., electrophysiological recordings). This customized behavioral box effectively detected startle responses and facilitated PPI assessment with simultaneous neuronal recording in freely behaving rodents subjected to post-weaning isolation.

BackgroundThe natural history of clinically stable patients with Chiari I malformation (CM-I)-syringomyelia is uncertain. To understand their outcomes, we examined conservatively managed CM-I-syringomyelia patients’ long-term clinical and radiological courses.MethodsWe enrolled 156 mild CM-I-syringomyelia cases (Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score ≥13) managed non-surgically between 1994 and 2014 and followed them periodically until December 2024 for significant progressive myelopathy that we termed ‘obvious deterioration’. Obvious deterioration was defined as a ≥2-point decline in JOA score to less than 13. Spontaneous syrinx resolution was radiologically defined as >50% reduction in syrinx length or maximal axial diameter on T1-weighted MRI.ResultsThe entire cohort had over 1401 patient-years of follow-up. 55 patients exhibited clinical deterioration, yielding an annual progression rate of 3.9%. Obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) (HR=1.841, 95% CI 0.999 to 3.392; p=0.049), positive Babinski sign (HR=2.252, 95% CI 1.229 to 4.125; p=0.009) and without spontaneous resolution (HR=20.308, 95% CI 4.804 to 85.849; p<0.001) independently predicted later clinical obvious deterioration. Spontaneous resolution of CM-I-syringomyelia was more frequent with cervical syringes (HR=2.12, 95% CI 1.224 to 3.674; p=0.007) and absence of OSAHS (HR=3.83, 95% CI 1.376 to 10.640; p=0.01).ConclusionThis study showed that the natural course of myelopathy in CM-I-syringomyelia varies according to the OASHS status, Babinski sign and spontaneous syrinx resolution. Additionally, baseline characteristics, including the spinal region of the syrinx and the absence of OSAHS, correlated with spontaneous syrinx resolution.

People with single-sided deafness (SSD) or asymmetric hearing loss (AHL) have particular difficulty understanding speech in noisy listening situations and in sound localization. The objective of this multicenter study is to evaluate the effect of a cochlear implant (CI) in adults with single-sided deafness (SSD) or asymmetric hearing loss (AHL), particularly regarding sound localization and speech intelligibility with additional interest in electric-acoustic pitch matching. A prospective longitudinal study at 7 European tertiary referral centers was conducted including 19 SSD and 16 AHL subjects undergoing cochlear implantation. Sound localization accuracy was investigated in terms of root mean square error and signed bias before and after implantation. Speech recognition in quiet and speech reception thresholds in noise for several spatial configurations were assessed preoperatively and at several post-activation time points. Pitch perception with CI was tracked using pitch matching. Data up to 12 months post activation were collected. In both SSD and AHL subjects, CI significantly improved sound localization for sound sources on the implant side, and thus overall sound localization. Speech recognition in quiet with the implant ear improved significantly. In noise, a significant head shadow effect was found for SSD subjects only. However, the evaluation of AHL subjects was limited by the small sample size. No uniform development of pitch perception with the implant ear was observed. The benefits shown in this study confirm and expand the existing body of evidence for the effectiveness of CI in SSD and AHL. Particularly, improved localization was shown to result from increased localization accuracy on the implant side.

The increasing prevalence of unruptured intracranial aneurysms, detected through advanced brain imaging, necessitates a cautious approach to surgical intervention, with a focus on minimizing associated risks. This retrospective study explores the safety and better aesthetic outcomes of a Virtual Reality (VR) guided Focused Sylvian Approach (FSA) in comparison to the standard Pterional Surgical Approach (SPA) for the clipping of unruptured small-medium-size (<10 mm) Middle Cerebral Artery (MCA) aneurysms. 23 patients with 23 unruptured MCA aneurysms underwent the VR-guided FSA from June 2020 to September 2023, while 22 patients with 23 unruptured MCA aneurysms who underwent SPA were retrospectively recruited from the medical records database from January 2017 to May 2020. The comparative analysis involved surgical duration, postoperative complications, hospital stay, and a three-month follow-up patient's sequela survey. All aneurysms were effectively treated. The FSA procedure demonstrated a shorter surgical duration compared to the SPA group (164 ± 48 min vs. 196 ± 133 min, P = 0.2974). Despite a slightly higher median age in the FSA group (59 vs. 56 years), the median hospital stay was shorter in the FSA group (6 days) compared to the SPA group (7 days). The SPA group exhibited a higher incidence of complications (17/23) including cephalalgia, scar irritation, scar numbness, and temporal muscle dysfunction, compared to the FSA group (1/23), with a statistical significance of P < 0.05. Although FSA cannot demonstrate significant surgical efficiency in surgical duration and hospitalization, its superior aesthetics and preservation of temporalis muscle function compared to the SPA group. The VR-guided FSA offers improved aesthetics and preservation of muscle function compared to the SPA. Our retrospective study underscores the potential benefits of VR-guided, personalized, focused Sylvian approaches for managing unruptured small-medium-size MCA aneurysms.

Current radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting systems typically operate with only one frequency range within the electromagnetic RF spectrum, which can be explained by the complexity of working with more than one frequency range. However, with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), many of the devices designed for this purpose use various communication protocols for routing their signals and data transfer. In this context, this work proposes the development of a rectenna to operate in the ISM 0.915 and 2.4 GHz bands, capable of achieving an energy conversion efficiency of 65% and an output voltage of 1.6 V as a function of an input power of − 1dBm.